Lily's Charm: Watta!
by Ponytail Goddess
Summary: Severus and James give Harry a bath...and get a little more than they bargained for.


_Disclaimer: I do not own anything associated with Harry Potter. Lily's Charm belongs to the wonderful Obsidian Embrace; this fic is based off of her story's plot._

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**Lily's Charm: "Watta"**

By Ponytail Goddess

"_I, in fact, gave you the majority of your baths. Though James often assisted, as he enjoyed your toys."—Severus, Ch. 29 of Lily's Charm_

**1981**

"There you are Harry." Severus said as he set his babbling son in the wooden basin full of water.

"Watta! Watta!" Squealed Harry with delight as he slapped both hands up and down in the warm bathwater that now encompassed him.

"Yes Harry, that is water. What an astute observation." Severus said, giving him a very discreet look of approval that said without words just how proud he was of the boy.

"Watta, watta, watta!" The boy chanted over and over, smiling up at the two men who were on their knees beside the basin.

"He certainly likes his new word, doesn't he?" James said, smiling largely at Harry who was now giggling and splashing the water around in the basin with his hands. "Let's find you some toys, little guy."

Turning around, James dug through the small toy box that sat next to the hamper in the bathroom. After a few moments of digging and contemplation, four swimming rubber duckies and a model of Hogwart's giant squid were thrown in the basin. Harry watched the giant squid swim in circles around him in the water, giggling with delight as its red tentacles tickled his legs.

"Okay, so here is how our story will begin…" James started, pointedly ignoring the way Severus rolled his eyes at this.

"There once was a young prince…that would be you, young man." He said, pointing at Harry and nodding. "The prince lived in a castle far, far away in a magical land. However, the prince didn't like to live in the castle. Instead, he spent all of his spare time playing in the sea with his friends, the ducks… Harry, you are chewing on one of your friends!" James exclaimed in shock, though he didn't remove the unfortunate duck from the boy's mouth, for fear of starting a fit.

With a flick of his wand, James made the other three ducks start to fly in a circle around Harry's head and consequently made him forget about the duck in his mouth, which was quickly discarded into the water as Harry reached his arms out towards the flying ducks. This seemed to work in Severus' favor as well, as he diligently washed under the boy's arms while he held them up.

"There we go…oh, where were we? Oh yes, so once the prince decided that his friends weren't all that tasty, he decided to play with them in the sea." James said, grabbing a couple of the ducks in his hands and making them splash one another.

"Damn it James, you're getting me wet!" Severus growled, stopping his cleaning of Harry's back in order to glare at James.

"Language!" Lily called from the next room, effectively quieting one highly annoyed Severus as he resumed cleaning Harry with a washrag.

"After a while, a big evil squid came along and attacked the ducks!" James exclaimed, his voice getting more intense with every word that he said. Immediately, James grabbed the squid and entangled a duck in its tentacles, acting out a rather violent fight scene between duck and squid. "The squid roared in a booming voice that echoed across the land, 'I shall feast on duck tonight!' A great battle ensued! The squid tried to smother the duck with its great tentacles, but the duck bit back, its huge fangs-"

James stopped midsentence when Severus put down the washrag and looked at him in disbelief. "For the love of Merlin, quit telling the boy false information! Ducks do not have fangs!"

"It's just a story Severus!" James countered, holding his ground against his grouchy counterpart, "The ducks have to have some way to fight back! What do think they can do, take the squid and flap him to death?"

"This boy is learning every minute of the day! He does not need to be told false information!"

"I said this story took place in a far away land! It's my own made up world and in my world, ducks have fangs!" James argued, his eyebrows furrowed in frustration at Severus' petty disagreement.

"Indeed…" Severus snarled, "Well, in 'my world,' you're the village idiot."

A moment of silence ensued while the two enemies glared at each other before looking down at the third party in the room. Almost immediately, both sets of eyes softened as they saw Harry staring up at both of them, no longer smiling, but staring at them both with a gloomy expression plastered on his face.

"Sorry Harry." James said, looking down at the sad little face.

Severus sighed and said with a sarcastic eye roll, "Continue your story…the boy was enjoying it."

Despite his little spat with Severus, James quickly got his chops back and had the squid attacking one of the ducks furiously. Instantly, Harry's full attention was on the two battling figures in the basin, his eyes lit up with awe as he watched the fight.

"It soon became obvious to the prince that his duck friend was not going to survive the fight without help!" James exclaimed, handing the squid over to Harry, "The prince took the squid up in his mighty hand and destroyed it! Come on, destroy the squid Harry…"

Harry, however, seemed rather entranced with the squid, watching it wiggle in his hand with wide eyes and an open mouth. When he put his other hand on the flailing beast, he squeezed down tightly and water shot out of the toy and into Severus' face.

"Daddy watta!" Harry exclaimed quite loudly, then laughed while he slapped the squid against the water several times. "Watta, watta, watta!"

James bit his lip so he wouldn't laugh out loud as he watched Severus sputter a bit and wipe away the water from his face. However, Severus' glower only lasted mere seconds as he watched the boy fling his squid down into James' lap, which resulted in a large wet spot on his crotch.

"Ames watta!" Harry squealed, obviously quite pleased with himself.

Severus smirked at this and leaned close to Harry, quickly catching his eyes. "Good job Harry. You can water James whenever you want."

"Hmph." James mumbled, frowning at the wet spot on his pants, "Well, at least he didn't squirt squid guts all over me."

"Yes, but he designated you to get rid of the dead carcass." Severus replied, smirking as he tried to annoy James.

However, James chose to ignore his baiting and burst into a round of applause. "And then the prince destroyed the foul squid and ate it for supper! There was peace in the land once again! Hooray!" Harry clapped along with him and giggled while Severus got up and grabbed Harry's pajamas off of the sink.

While Severus rummaged around for a diaper, James set to work spelling the floor dry again. When he looked up, he saw an odd look on Harry's face. The boy almost looked…pensive. He was also shaking his arms up and down, but not splashing in the water like he had previously been doing.

"Severus, look at him. What's he doing?" James asked, not taking his eyes away from the odd behavior of the boy.

"Harry?" Severus questioned, sounding just as perplexed as James at this behavior.

However, a moment later it all made sense when the all of the water in the basin flew up and levitated in midair. James' eyes nearly popped out of his head at this. "Woah…" He said, staring at the large, rippling mass that was floating above them.

It started to move towards Severus.

Immediately, Severus reached for his wand pocket while simultaneously trying to back away from the floating mass that loomed above him. However, his wand pocket was empty and the water came down before he could grab his wand off the floor.

A loud splashing sound was heard throughout the house, followed by the loud giggling and clapping of one highly amused Harry Potter.

"Watta, watta, watta! Daddy watta! Daddy watta!"

"I think that's the most impressive show of magic I've ever seen from a baby! Good job Harry!"

"Harry! You were supposed to aim for James!"

_The End._


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